Web browser Dolphin HD now encrypts your backups, adds off switch to webzine toggle, ditches exit menu

Dolphin HD is a strange animal. It has the best features of any Android web browser: well designed tabs, a very useful bookmark sidebar, and its highly customisable gesture controls leave the competition gasping for air.

But this marine mammal has a fishy side. You need a rooted phone and a bit of Android hosts file editing to stop it from calling the mothership, and its backup feature may put info out in the open on your SD card that should be locked.

Encrypted backups, finally!

The latter problem is fixed in the latest update. The old versions didn't encrypt their backups, but the latest version does. I guess a bit of complaining on blogs like this helps ;) Head to the settings and set a password to make sure nobody can grab login cookies and other sensitive data from Dolphins backup files on your memory card.

A bunch of off switches

More new stuff that puts you in control: get rid of the confirmation screen that pops up when you you exit Dolphin with the back button, dump the annoying "rate me" nag screen, and disable the webzine toggle. If you choose to keep webzine on Dolphin will send the URLs you visit to its webzine server, but if you opt out your surfing habits should remain private. If not, I'm sure the folks at the xda forums will find out real soon.

Links in new tab dialog still flawed

Something that didn't change: when you open a link in a new tab and choose between switching to the new tab or opening it in the background, the "remember my decision" checkbox is still checked by default. This doesn't make any sense. If the box was unchecked, you'd only have to check it once. But because it's checked by default you have to uncheck it over and over again. Even worse: if you allow Dolphin to remember your choice by accident it's really hard to make it forget again. Restoring your settings from a backup (if you have one) or resetting to default settings is the only way out.

• Dolphin Browser (Android Market)

Security app updates: Wifi Protector, DroidWall, Lookout

Wifi Protector

WiFiKill is a tool that turns Android phones into rogue access points. The first version could break internet connections of all devices connected to the same router. An update allows attackers to redirect their victims to any IP address of their choice. This makes it possible to spy on you, steal your passwords, and more. And there are other apps that do the same evil things.

Wifi Protector detects rogue access points, and if your phone is rooted it can protect you against their evilness. Like all security apps Wifi Protector is not 100% waterproof, but the latest update does a better job than the previous versions.

Wifi Protector costs a euro if you get it from the Android Market, but it's free if you download it from the xda forum. You can't use the Android Market to update the free version, so you'll need to get the new APK from xda and install it over the old copy.

• more about Wifi Protector (android underground)
• Wifi Protector (xda forum, free, download link at the bottom of the opening post)
• Wifi Protector (gurkedev, not free)


DroidWall

Many Android apps demand full internet access to collect usage stats and other info, to show ads from banner farms that track your location and online behaviour, and to do other things that you may not want them to do.

DroidWall is an outgoing firewall for Android that lets you revoke the internet permission that you didn't want to hand out to begin with. You can tell apps not to use WiFi, to stay away from cellular data, or both. The latest version added a bit of eye candy (application icons in the app list) and lists new apps on top of the list so you don't have to scroll all over the place to keep your freshly installed apps offline. There's a price to pay, though. Although the changelog promises that the app list doesn't reload when it doesn't need to, I often have to wait a long time before my list of apps loads since the update. Maybe the app icons or moving new apps to the top slow things down more than expected?

Update: the latest version loads the icons in a background process, so you can edit your app list before the icons are done loading.

DroidWall has one major flaw: when you boot your phone blocked apps may start before DroidWall does, so there's a brief period in which DroidWall can be leaky. It's probably due to the way Android is set up, but it's annoying anyway.

• DroidWall (Google code)
• DroidWall (Android Market)

Update: DroidWall out, AFWall+ in. Unlike DroidWall, AFWall+ doesn't leak when you boot your phone.


Lookout

Whether Android antivirus apps are useful or useless is a topic of hot debate. Some people argue that bad apps are kicked out of the Android Market before the antivirus apps learn how to detect them. On the other hand, you can't exclude the possibility that an antivirus app updates its virus database before Google cleans up its shop. If you install apps from other sources an antivirus app will definitely add a much needed extra layer of protection.

Just keep in mind that no antivirus app catches everything. Lookout, the most popular free antivirus app for Android, is no exception. It's good at catching test viruses, but you never know how long a real virus manages to escape detection in the wild.

But even though you shouldn't rely too much on virus scanners, there are other reasons to get a copy of Lookout. The free version can back up your contacts, so you can keep an extra copy in addition to your Google backup. If your phone goes missing, Lookout can locate it and make it scream. The latest update fixes some bugs, but the makers of Lookout didn't say which bugs.

• Lookout (Android Market)

Catch and kill the Carrier IQ spyware

CIQ must die

Carrier IQ is a spyware company that deserves to be sued straight into bankrupcy, and its owners should go to jail. Their product is a piece of spyware that comes preinstalled on many Android phones, iPhones, Blackberries , and Nokias. It reads all sorts of private information (location, web surfing, text messages, keystrokes, emails) behind your back. It even logs data sent over https as plain text, which defeats the purpose of end-to-end encryption used by PayPal, banks, webmail, etc.

CIQ phones home to Carrier IQ, Inc., which hands the info to its customers. Your data eventually ends up at phone manufacturers and operators. It's meant to improve cellular service, but it can collect such a truckload of sensitive data that it would make Big Brother drool like a little baby. CIQ should be killed like any other virus. Its makers deserve a slow and painful death.

For a detailed but non-geeky description of CIQ check out The Rootkit Of All Evil: CIQ on the xda portal. For all the gory details in geekspeak dive into the full CIQ discussion on the xda forum.

Trevor Eckhart (TrevE on the xda forum) discovered and exposed CIQs dirty business. Carrier IQ, Inc. obviously didn't like to have their crimes exposed. They even threatened to sue Trevor into silence, but after free speech organisation EFF got involved CIQ had to back off and shut up. That's a good start, but not enough. Carrier IQ should shut their mouths and shut down their business. Let's hope the legal system does the right thing and kills CIQ.

Many Android and other phones are sold with CIQ straight out of the box. There's usually no way to opt out from being spied on, and no way to get rid of this piece of junk unless you root your phone, alter the system files, and void your warranty.

If you bought your phone from an american wireless operator it's probably infected with CIQ. Infection rates in the rest of the world are lower. For example, the major operators in my country (The Netherlands) don't use CIQ. Europeans are still at risk, though. Vodafone Portugal is in bed with CIQ, which probably violates all kinds of european privacy laws. And it's not just network operators that shop at CIQ. Phone manufacturers like HTC and Samsung include CIQ or similar junk, so even if your phone is not carrier-branded you may still be spied upon.

How to catch the thief?

CIQ is a rootkit that hides itself from you. It won't show up in task managers, it doesn't have an icon in your app drawer, and you'll never know it's running unless your tech skills are well above average. On some phones it may show up as IQ Agent in the application settings, but it could also be running completely invisible unless you use third party tools to hunt it down.

The best way to catch the thief red-handed is with the Logging Test App from TrevE. This app catches CIQ and many other logging apps that may (or may not) be running on your phone.

You can also check for CIQ with Any Cut. If Any Cut offers to create shortcuts to IQRD and IQAgent your phone is infected.

Update: now that CIQ-gate made the mainstream media all kinds of new CIQ detecting apps appear on the market. Voodoo Carrier IQ detector is an open source app to catch CIQ. Although it's still a work in progress it is a lot more user friendly than the geeky app from TrevE. Another app to catch CIQ is Carrier IQ Detector from Lookout Labs, built by the company that makes Androids most popular free antivirus app. Virus killer Bitdefender made a CIQ detector too.

Kill the beast

You'll need root access to kill CIQ, and all ways to remove CIQ from your phone will void your warranty. Before you start, make sure to back up your system software just in case you need to get your hardware fixed.

Flashing a custom ROM like CyanogenMod will remove CIQ. Other custom ROMs are usually CIQ-free too. Keep a backup copy of your stock ROM in a safe place just in case.

The free version of the Logging Test App can detect CIQ for you, but it won't touch it. The Logging Test App can kill CIQ, but only if you upgrade to the paid version (one dollar). Warning: all phones are different, so the Logging Test App may not work on your phone or even brick it. Make sure you have a full system backup just in case the Logging Test App makes your phone unbootable.

You could try to sue your mobile operator or phone manufacturer to recoup the cost of the Logging Test App, but that would only work if you join a class action lawsuit. Of course you could buy the app from the Android Market, use it to get rid of CIQ, and then use the 15 minute window to get a refund. Or just keep the app, because removing CIQ is just one if its many useful features.

Removing CIQ by hand is possible, but very difficult. You can't just rename or delete the app files, because CIQ is integrated into your web browser, dialer, kernel, media player, SMS app, and other places. You'll need to extract all those bits and pieces, patch them, and flash them back into your phone. This keeps manual removal out of reach of everyone except a handful of experts who know how to edit source code. If you want to give it a shot anyway, start with this CIQ discussion on xda. It's very HTC-centered, but it should give you an idea where to look on other phones too.

Tame the beast

Although CIQ is very hard to remove, there's another way to stop it from phoning home. Just make sure it doesn't run. Your phone needs to be rooted to keep CIQ under control.

You can freeze its background processes with Titanium or MyBackup. The names of the processes depend on your phone, look for IQRD, System Manager (yes, really), IQAgent, or HTCIQAgent. Too bad that freezing apps only works with the paid versions of Titanium and MyBackup.

You can freeze CIQ for free grab with Bloat Freezer, but the business ethics of the maker of Bloat Freezer are as bad as those of CIQ.

Carrier IQ Process Killer kills CIQ when it tries to run. It won't restart until you reboot your phone, and then you can kill CIQ again. Anti Carrier IQ does the same.

find CIQ

• Carrier IQ Detector (from Lookout Labs)
• Bitdefender Carrier IQ Finder
• Voodoo Carrier IQ detector

find and kill CIQ

• Logging Test App by TrevE (finds CIQ for free, removes it for a dollar)
• Android Security Test (Trevor Eckharts Logging Test App site)
• Carrier IQ Process Killer
• Anti Carrier IQ
• CIQ discussion on xda (warning: full of geekspeak and raw code)

more about CIQ

• The Rootkit Of All Evil: CIQ (xda on CIQ in non-geekspeak)

Kill WiFiKill with Wifi Protector

WiFiKill turns Android phones into rogue access points that can hijack your WiFi to break your internet, spy on you, steal passwords, and more. And there are other apps that do the same evil things.

But you can fight back! Wifi Protector looks for suspicious network behaviour and warns you when things smell fishy. If your phone is rooted, it can protect you against attacks in addition to warning you.

Wifi Protector doesn't always detect bad access points. It knows when a good access point turns bad, but it won't protect you if the network is already compromised when you connect to it for the first time. If a known network (or the network at your office or school) goes bad Wifi Protector will usually do the job, but when you walk into a coffeeshop with an unknown network already under attack Wifi Protector doesn't always see the danger.

Even though it's a bit leaky, Wifi Protector adds an extra layer of security which is better than nothing, and the latest update gives you a chance to detect an ongoing attack. Just keep in mind that it shouldn't be used as a substitute for your brain. The same goes for all security apps, because no safety net is completely without holes.

Autostart is optional. If you move out of a suspect location into a safe place the background service keeps running. Wifi Protector eats a lot of memory (and causes a bit of network traffic), so if you want to save memory and battery you'll have to close it yourself. The off switch is hidden in the menu of the expert mode screen. It would be better if there was an off button in the main screen.

Wifi Protector costs a euro if you get it from the Android Market, but it's free if you download it from the xda forum.

• Wifi Protector (xda forum, free, download link at the bottom of the opening post)
• Wifi Protector (gurkedev, not free)

Other apps to protect your phone against the bad guys:
• LBE Privacy Guard
• DroidWall
• AdAway